Taking the Steppe
by Ineffable Sunset
Summary: "Come on, Hero!" Fang chortled. "What would dear princess, Serah, think?" The party are saddling up to cross the Archylte Steppe, but learning to ride is just one of the problems, actually getting on is something else. Lightning teaches Hope the ropes


**Disclaimer: **I do not own Final Fantasy XIII; all characters, places and events belong to Square Enix and their affiliates.

**Author's Note: **A request from a friend of mine, though more of a prompt, really; the original request was: "Lightning and are Hope riding chocobos together, and Snow's being an idiot, as per usual." I edited it somewhat, but I hope this is what you were looking for. I spent about and hour and a half on this; please let me know if there are any spelling or grammar errors, and I'll do my best to fix them.

**Side Note: **The title, it's corny, I know, but what can I say? I love corny puns and jokes, even subtle ones. And, it's now eleven-forty, I'm going to bed. Goodnight.

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Taking the Steppe

* * *

**The Archylte Steppe was a massive, dangerous expanse of** plains, curves, cliffs and lakes; and monstrous creatures occupied all the land in between, from Gorgonopsids and Megistotherians, all the way to Behemoth Kings and the fearsome kings of the Steppe, the Adamantoises. Crossing the Archylte Steppe could take days, sometimes even weeks, if one was lucky enough to be there during mating season. Luckily enough, it was a couple of weeks shy of mating season, and the l'Cie were preparing themselves to cross the Steppe.

There was no way they would be able to cross the entirety of the Steppe on foot; the creatures spread out across it ensured little to no chance of setting up a secure camp. Even on foot, it would take far too long for their tastes to make it to their destination, the Mah'habara Subterra; a seemingly endless cavern that would deliver them to the Sulyya Springs, a mere milestone on their way to Oerba.

This was what brought them to their current position at the Font of Namva; the chosen nesting area of the majority of the Archylte Steppe's chocobo population, also the unfortunate subject of numerous Sahagin attacks. With the aid of the long legs of a chocobo, the crossing time could be cut down to three hours, easy. It was easy to get the chocobos to let the party ride them; it was _learning _to ride them that was the most difficult part, for some at least.

o-0-o

"Approach it from the front, Hope. So the chocobo can see you," Lightning advised her young protégé, absently stroking the tawny feathers of her own bird. She had long since gotten on the back of her own chocobo, and was calmly perched on top of it, somehow still maintaining the poise she had on the ground, even in a skirt. "It'll make it less nervous if it can see you. Good, you see how it's lowered its head?"

Hope nodded his head, gently so as not to scare his prospective mount.

"Yeah, I see."

"It means it doesn't see you as a threat, so reach out and touch it." Lightning's bright eyes watched as Hope followed her instructions, softly placing his hand on the chocobo's beak. "Okay, now all you have to do is walk around to its back, but keep touching it. The chocobo will do the rest."

"Alright."

Rapidly growing more confident by the bird's easy acceptance of him, Hope trailed his hand along the golden bird's thin neck, stepping slowly around to its side. Surprisingly, the bird crouched down to the ground, its head turned to watch him. "I get on now?" he glanced up at Lightning.

Lightning nodded, smiling. "You get on now."

Gingerly stepping over the wide expanse of it's back, Hope placed a foot on either side of the bird—which was no easy feet, with the bird being as large as it was, easily twice the size of his mentor. Easing his weight onto the chocobo's back, he smiled slightly as it warbled at him, seemingly pleased with his decision to mount it.

"Good job, Hope. You're getting it."

"Waah!"

Hope flailed around for balance as, abruptly, the bird shot up to its full height. Steadying himself was a mission, but Lightning's hand caught him firmly around the collar, holding him up as his arms wrapped desperately around the feathered neck in front of him. He glanced over at Light, who seemed amused, and flushed. Peering around, he found everyone else was looking at him; even Snow had stopped his wild attempts to board his chocobo, choosing instead to stare incredulously at him.

"Probably should have warned you about that," Lightning's tone was warm.

Hope grimaced in embarrassment, shying away from the looks the others were giving him. "Probably," he repeated, wryly.

There were only two from their group who had no yet mounted their birds; Snow, though not for lack of trying, and Sazh, who seemed to be too busy watching Snow try and fail to bother with his own.

For a couple of minutes, as Hope adjusted to the new experience and tried to figure out how to _control _the bird, they just sat in comfortable silence. The raucous laughter of their comrades as they watched Snow make a fool out of himself was the only other noise, aside from the soft warbling and trills of the chocobos.

The chocobo beneath him warked as Hope tugged gently on one of its feathers, trying to coax it to the left. Instead, the bird stomped its foot, clawing at the ground with sharp talons, and flicking water up into the air.

"No, not like that, Hope. That'll only hurt them," Lightning chided gently, making sure he was watching she grabbed a handful of feathers from the base of her birds neck in either hand and gently curled them to the right. Instantly, her bird shifted to the left. "Curl the feathers in the opposite direction you want it to go it. The harder you curl, the faster they'll turn."

Doing as she said, Hope marveled as it worked, just like she said. "How do you know all this, Light?" he question boldly, experimentally moving his bird to the right.

Lightning sighed. "Serah and I used to ride chocobos as kids. My father was a chocobo racer, before he died."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. He died doing what he loved, riding. After that, I stopped."

A silence settled again between them, not quite as comfortable as the first, but not exactly an awkward silence; it was more the silence of two people, both too caught up in their thoughts to notice anything else. Still, the laughter continued as Snow fell to the ground with a thud. Lightning sighed softly to herself, shaking her head; you'd think he'd learn from his mistakes. Then again, it _was _Snow, the man never learned from anything.

_"Come on, Hero!" _Fang chortled from across the spring. _"What would dear princess, Serah, think?"_

_"Hey, shut up!"_

Lightning observed Snow try to mount his chocobo one more time, her expression vaguely irritated. Muttering something below her breath, she gracefully flicked on leg over the chocobo and slid off its side, landing on the damp sand with a muted thud.

"Excuse me, I afraid I have to go save that chocobo."

Smiling, he hugged the neck of his own mount and watch Lightning wander off to go save the poor bird from Snow's clutches. More importantly, to save Snow before the avian got truly angry. Snow, it seemed, had a knack for making things want to kill him.

"Hey, Light?" he called after her.

The woman paused in her steps, gazing back at him. "Hm?"

"Thanks."

Lightning smiled. "No problem, kid."


End file.
